Baystate CX Postmortem

Much like Putney this summer, there isn't going to be much of a Sterling race report. Basically, I got up, went to the basement to get my bike, and as I walked up the stairs I was like, "wow, my legs shouldn't burn walking up the stairs carrying a bike."

Combine that with some poor fueling decisions in the morning and I was already giving up on the start line.

Some sneaky moves got me into the top 20 anyway, from a 6th row start, as people cluster-f'ed around the start track and the first runup. But it didn't really matter, the race got sorted out and I didn't have anything resembling the gas required to hold my spot.

I crashed on lap two trying to make up for worthless legs by cornering too aggressively and that was pretty much the end of me fighting. C Todd came cooking by me somewhere along the line, slapped me on the back and said "come on" but I couldn't even pick it up to make a token effort to go with him. I tried to figure out how to drop out but I'm not a pro at that kind of thing so I could never quite bring myself to pull the trigger. I sat up and tried to ease my back and stomach pain for a while, eventually I started to feel a little better, and by now there were only 3 laps to go or whatever and I was back with people that truly could not corner to save their lives. So I tried to race them, I mean what the heck, that's what I paid money for, right? It was a pathetic sort of racing, them blowing me away on the flats and then me coming right back and getting blocked on the corners. Eventually I started to have a reason to race, I could see C Todd in the distance, I figured a final sprint against him would make up for the rest of the day...and then before I know it I'm right there with him... oh that's because he flatted.

So I finished all alone.

The beauty of the double weekend is you can always forget Saturday if you can conjure up a good ride Sunday. So I pulled out all my recovery tricks (even the recovery jog) to see if I could make like a phoenix at Palmer.

Comments

josh said…
at least I'm PRO at something...
josh said…
for the record, there is an art to dropping out of a race. you gotta do it with a certain style, and you drop out differently when you are doing it for different reasons. i'd give you tips here, but I could write a whole blog post on it.

that said, its probably the worst feeling in the world. something no one ever wants to do. it brings up all the why's. but its also something sometimes you gotta do. it often hurts worse than just finishing, but sometimes you gotta know when to fold 'em.
Colin R said…
yeah dude. i saw Toby Marzot drop out at Palmer and it was f'ing pro. He crossed the finish line and just turned right, grabbed the tape and rode off into the parking lot.

i thought the race was over until the next guys rode straight through.

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